Check Out the Newest "Blade Runner" Short: It's Anime, Done by the Creator of "Cowboy Bebop"

Shinichiro Watanabe's distinctive style is on full display in "Black Out 2022"

As we mentioned earlier, Blade Runner 2049 director Denis Villeneuve commissioned three short films to bridge the gap between the original movie and his upcoming sequel. The first, featuring Jared Leto, was pretty darn good. The second, featuring Dave Bautista, was so-so.

Both of those were live-action, but the third short, entitled "Black Out 2022" is anime and it's fantastic. It was done by Shinichiro Watanabe, the creator of the wildly popular Cowboy Bebop series. Check it out (and be warned, there's some graphic violence):

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I thought the flashback sequence was particularly artful. It was also cool to hear the return of Edward James Olmos (yes, that's him voice his original character), and I dug how Trixie clearly references Pris from the original film.